The Times of india  13.08.2010

PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation's (PMC) school board is planning to start a central kitchen system to ensure good-quality and hygienic food, to be supplied in air-tight boxes to avoid contamination, as mid-day meals to children studying in municipal schools.

The move follows last month's incident, where over 70 students of a municipal school in Bopodi had taken ill due to food poisoning after eating a mid-day meal served to them.

Speaking to TOI on Tuesday, PMC school board chairpersonSangeeta Tiwari said that they will soon begin the process of inviting bids from women's self-help groups (SHGs), which are financially sound and can thus follow all the requirements of supplying hygienic food. "The entire system of supplying mid-day meals will be monitored by a committee, chaired by the municipal commissioner." The committee is also expected to have on board two nutritionists, who will ensure balanced food for the children.

Tiwari said that use of proper machinery and utensils will be mandatory in the central kitchen system, where the cooks will have to strictly follow guidelines about maintaining hygiene.

She also said that one central kitchen will not suffice for the 300 schools that the PMC provides mid-day meals to. "We have suggested that there be at least eight to 10 kitchens." Incidentally, last year, the state government had issued guidelines to the municipal corporation about having a central kitchen system to ensure that food is prepared in a hygienic manner.

While it will take time to implement the new scheme, the school board is taking steps to ensure that the incident at the Bopodi school does not recur elsewhere. "We have formed special squads to ensure that the food supplied by the women's SHGs in the present arrangement is cooked in a hygienic manner. Around eight women's SHGs were dismissed since they were not following the guidelines issued by the school board."

In the present arrangement, there are a total of 163 women's SHGs which supply "khichdi, dal or curry" to the 300 schools. Tiwari said the school board spends Rs 3.5 crore for the mid-day meal scheme, which benefits over 87,000 students from Standard I to VII.